Contrasts

 The same day Tziporah went to her very first ballet class, Araceli had her very last cello lesson with Mr. Marsden.  I cried.  Ari has been with Mr. Marsden for gosh, how many years?  Seven years?  He has been mentoring her, prodding her, reigning her in and pushing her forward every week, without fail, for most of her life.  Through all of Ari's ups and downs, cello lessons were a constant.  She could always depend on Mr. Marsden being in his chair, with his cello, in his studio, ready to teach.  She could depend on his chuckle as well as his serious moments.  Ari was a handful for Mr. Marsden in her early years.  He never flinched, though.  I feel like I owe him a debt of gratitude.

Ari's new teacher is Suzuki and we're hoping she enjoys the community aspect of his studio, and gets a new infusion of motivation.  No matter how good a teacher is, change is good.  It's too bad we started with the best, because it was hard to find a change that would be positive.  Here's to growth.  Cross your fingers.

 And speaking of growth, my brother-in-law, Clint's mom owns a dance studio.  When Nikki asked me if I wanted to put Tziporah in their two-year-old class with her cousin Jersey, I could hardly say no!  Cuteness, cousins, ballet...no brainer.  Of COURSE the class presents a scheduling conflict, being at the same time as Ptolemy's dance class at Clytie's, but being able to actually get my kids to and from the classes is secondary to the idea of all that cuteness happening.  On the first day, Golda and Ruby stayed with Tizzy and got a chance to dance with her.  Priceless!

 Tziporah, just point your toes like this and you'll be just fine!

 Look how excited!

 Lily, Jersey and Tizzy.  Lily is Jersey's cousin on Clint's side, so Jersey has it made in this class!  She is surrounded by cousins and the teacher is her grandma!  An hour after ballet class, Tizzy was asking - every five seconds - if she could go to ballet again.  "I have to!  I have to, Mom!"  I think some of her sisters understand that compulsion!

 Another change...I tried to document my indigo hair before it went back to a respectable color.  I'm no good at selfies.  Or maybe I am just THAT hideous in real life!

 This is the funniest contrast of our week.  At Dylan's for half-price shakes, Chloe opted for just a kid cone.  She said to me, "Take a picture and send it to my mom to show her that I'm not overeating in America."  Ha ha!  Later that night, after the movie, Chloe was eating spaghetti when Ruby pulled out....PEANUT BUTTER BARS!  Chloe's reaction was SO funny!  With her mouth full of noodles, she said, "Oh my gosh."  We staged a photo with Chloe surrounded by food and sent it to her mom with the caption, "Just kidding."  There is so much food here to try, we can't waste time being prudent!  Unfortunately, the photo was too demonic to share!  Lol